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Has anyone ever soaked metal parts with rust in white vinegar?

I heard it works good to remove rust and is cheap.

I was thinking of soaking my brake calipers in it since they are loaded with rust and this will also clean them out.


SF Roth

Vinegar is acetic acid (CH 3 COOH). Sense the British auto industry is not known for using readily identifiable metal in their products, I would put something I didn't really value very much, made of the same material, into the vinegar first. You know, like, if it will cause pitting to machined surfaces or, like, whatever![:p]

Clay

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I'm starting to wonder if it's time one of our esteemed members dropped in to see what our boy Seth is up to. Better take your tool box when you go. And, don't forget your camera.

Mildred Hargis

Any acid (which vinegar is) will work. I have used molasses (the agricultural kind not the store kind) and reduce it with water ten to one. It has a preservative so takes about a week to get it started. The weaker the acid the longer it takes. Turns rust to black and is easily brushed off under water flow.

For non acid method you can use washing soda which acts as the electrolyte (I bought mine at Walmart years ago so don't know of availability now, look on box in your soap section of store) a table spoon to gallon of water. Hook your battery charger up to part with one clip and a metal rod stuck in solution on the other. I used a cheap set of jumper cables as an intermediary. The metal rod could be rebar or scrap stainless steel piece from your metal recyclers (I used a big bolt). although some have warned of gases given off, not a problem if done outdoors. Rust turns black and can be wire brushed off easily. It matters which way it's hooked up.





- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

Citric acid works well.You can get it from any home made wine specialist.

I prefer a nice Sangiovese from my wine specialist!

Don
Stick a Wedge In It
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants

Over on the Mini forum, many of the guys swear by white vinegar for removing rust. Its also been used for clearing radiators of internal scale and crud without rodding. Cheap and effective apparently even if it takes a while.

Adam







TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, S/S Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & PolyBushes all round, Anti- Dive, Strut-Top Roller Bearings, Capri Vented Discs & Calipers, Braided Hoses, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AT 14" 5 Spokes or Maestro Turbo 15" Alloys, Cruise Lights, S/S Heater Pipes, Replacement Fuel Tank. No Door Stickers. Mine since July 1986, V8 from 1991 courtesy of S&S V8 conversion and big brake kits.

My brother is a chemist and he turned me onto sulfamic acid (NOT SULFURIC) as a gentle cleaner for rust. It is used in a lot of household products like Lime-Away. It supposedly has the advantage of leaving a relatively bright surface that won't tarnish again as easily. I found a tub of the powder at a local hardware and have used a weak solution of it a few times with good success.


[/img]
1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

What about Coca Cola? Isn't that the best cleaning/rust removing/gut rot product on the market?

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphdvd.co.uk"]Triumph TR7 and other car documentaries on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

Sulfamic Acid is used by tile setters a lot to cleat cement and grout haze.



Don
Stick a Wedge In It
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants

Look on my blog and see the results of soaking in citric acid for 3 days.You need to scrub the rust with a soft wire brush daily as it becomes soft and easily comes off,then wash with water and the rust is gone.The pistons do not appear to be affected but I will be replacing the seals.You will need to dry the metal straight away as the new rust forms almost before your eyes.Hope this helps Steve..

I got my calipers rebuilt and installed. They work good.

Question, I noticed before and after my brake job that the brake pedal has a lot of play. I that common for a TR7? Seems like more play than my other classics.

Brakes work good. I noticed this when I first got the car too.

SF Roth

By a lot of play do you mean a lot of movement before you get braking action? Mine seems normal. The front pads should lightly brush the discs whereas the rear shoes should be close to lightly brush the drums. I would make sure that the auto adjusters in the rear is working and not frozen.

- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

This topic gave me the bump to start a little batch of rust removal on some parts I have been gathering. I started with a low priority item; my Sprint airbox. It had a lot of surface rust, but nothing too deep.



I mixed a weak batch of sulfamic acid at a about half of the recommended concentration used to clean grout removal. It then got diluted again as I topped of the tub to cover the part, so it was about 1/4 strength. After 24 hours and a couple rounds of light scrubbing with steel wool or a toothbrush, it looked like this:



Still a ways to go, but a lot had come off. It has now been about 36 hours and that extra time has made a lot of difference. I will pull it tonight and give it a good scrubbing, but most of the paint is gone and the remaining rust spots seem to wipe right off. Next time I won't even bother scrubbing much until at least 24 hours.

I'll post more pics as it gets closer to finished.




[/img]
1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

That looks really good!!!